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  • Essay / Beyond Humanity: Linguistic Communication in Primates

    An important part of the definition of language is its inherent symbolic nature. Humans rely on common meanings attached to words; that is, our ability to communicate depends on the assumption that others think words have the same value as we do. If two people were trying to communicate about a common threat, it would be essential that they agree on the threat label. Words change according to languages, dialects and regions. Understanding the language of the country is a skill that is probably often taken for granted, but imagine what life would be like without this vital ability: someone could shout a warning in the most effective and eloquent way imaginable, yet still not know translate. the message, we would have little choice but to guess its meaning. The ability to understand others means little without a common language. Even the smartest people would have to slow down any collaboration as they laboriously worked out each other's meaning. It is perhaps not surprising that historically, wherever humanity spread, language appeared soon after. Humanity comes from a long line of hominids, going back several million years, in an evolutionary tree that includes apes and a few other interesting now-extinct relatives. including Australopithecines, Homo habilis and Neanderthals. All of these are also examples of social creatures, just as humans are today: they live (or have lived) in groups, forming relationships, and depending on each other for a number of needs, large and small . What differentiates modern humans from the rest of social primates is the physical ability to produce a wide range of controlled vocal noises and the mental capacity to construct and understand complex language. While he... in the middle of a sheet of paper... "uses the keyboard to say where he wants to go, what he wants to eat and what games he wants to play." (Eckholm, 1985) In the morning, Kanzi sometimes plays tapes showing objects next to their lexigram symbol. Dr. Savage-Rumbaugh, who runs the project and even sleeps with Kanzi most nights, believes the medium has taught Kanzi more new words. She has been dedicated to developing Kanzi for decades and believes her work with Kanzi pushes the boundaries of previous definitions of what separates humans from other apes. It is becoming increasingly clear that scientists who wish to develop theoretical perspectives regarding the limits of Kanzi ape cognition – while remaining outside the circle of knowledge that arises from authentic cultural engagement – ​​must now justify the means by which they can assert such intellectual privilege. (Savage-Rumbaugh)